Manure-spreader.



T. BROWN. MANURE SPRBADBR.

APPLICATIONIILED NOV. 20, 1912. 1,112,256.

MMD

Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

T. BRWN. MANURB SPRBADER. APPLICATION FILED Nov,20.1912.

' Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

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AUNITED STATE-s OFFICE.

THEOFHIILUS BROWN, OF MOLQNE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR -TO MABSEILLESCOMPANY,

or nasce rioting, iLninors-y .iiv oozaronn'riou ,or LLINoIs.

To all @from 'it may-concern "'Be 'i known that I, THiiorHiLUs BROWN,

va citizen of the United States, residing at Moline, in the/county of Rock Island and State l.of Illinois, have invented certain new and: useful Im rovements in Manure-Spreado-the body in such a'manner that it may betui'ned throughv an angle o'tl", rear ground .wheels carrying the ldistributing beaterV and its driving mechanism and supporting the'. .rear end of the body and the movablel bottoin'iwhich ycarries the load rearward to the beater..

In=the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevationfwith one rea-r wheel removed,l viewed with the beater driving side of the machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation with a rear wheel removed, viewed ,from the side opposite to "that shown in Fig. 1, the front truckbeing turned through an angle of 90. Fig. 3 isla vertical longitudinal sectional view. F ig. e

' isa plan view. l A E11-"Referring to the drawings, the numerals 1 Lindicate the side sills or carrying frame of 'the body structure.: These side sills 1 are vparallelthroughout their entire length and extend from a' point below the rear axle 2 lforwa'rd'and upward in a plane inclined slightly to the' horizontal. Atlthe point 3, in front of the lower -front end of the loadcarrying receptacle, the lsills are bent up-. ward at an angle of approximately 45, their flipper ends being secured to castings 4 carried on each end of the bolster 5. The v"brackets or braces G are connected at their forward ends to the castings 4 andextend rearward. a short distance, then downward "at an inclination to the side sills 1 to a point atthe rear of: the upwardly bent front ends. The'bracesffare secured to the sills 1 by lmeans ofthe riveted plates 7. Plates 8 are riveted at-.tlie bend in the braces 6 for the purpose of further strengthening the structure.` ri'fhese bra.ces.'togetlier with a cross piece 9, support the inclined front board`f10 which constitutes the forward end of the load carrying chamber. The body part of T the machine o r load carrying chamber comy spel.ingannaif Letts'rsifatefi'tf 'Application mea Nvemuei 20,1912. fseilno. '132,552.y .y l p p ateatedsea 29, 1,914.

` prises the two side boards 11, the Aforwardly inclined front board 10, the-movable bottom `12 and theforward portions of the distributing beater 13.

. The numeral indicates inV general an` end gate which may be positioned in front of the beater when itis desired to rote'ct' the beater from the accumulation o a tightlyv packed mass against its periphery during the process of loading.

' The rear ends of the sills 1 extend directlyl beneath the rear axle 2 and are suspended from the axle by means of brackets or straps 15 which extend upward from the sills and over bearings 16 within which the ported ateacli end by the ground wheels 17 .which 'are provided with ratchet devices in- -closed within the hub caps 18 by means of which-the axle can ybe driven lin a forward direction only. The lratchet devices also provide anequalizing system so that in turning corners the axle will be driven only by the wheel which rotates the faster of the two.

l Atthe frontend of the machine a. centrally `arched axle 19 carries at each end guiding wheels 20 and at its center the fifth wheel 21,' The king bolt- 22 extending 'through the fifth wheel 21 has pivoted on -are yjournaled upon the rear axle as it is necessary that the beater not only revolve in a direction opposite to that of the axle, but. also at a very much greater speed.

To provide the proper increase in speed between the'axleand the beater as well as the reversal of direction," l have employed alsystem of .transmission commonly known as planetarygearing. Such a `system of gearing comprises three essential elements, na niclv, the driving gear, the .intermediate gearing and the drivengear concentric to the driving gear. By means o f this system the speed of the a'xle transmitted directly to t f driving gear'is greatly increased before reaching the driven gear which is connected to the beater. the direction of rota- `rear axle is )ournaled The axle 2 is fsupsov tion being reversed. The cup-shaped vcasing 25 receives the entire system of gearing within its confines. Such a system of earing is well known and isnottherefore illustrated. The casing 25, forming a part of the transmission, must be freefto rotate when no power -is being transmitted from the driving to the driven gears but when held station-l ary, causes the power to be transmitted from the driving gear to the driven gear. In placing the beater driving gearing upon the axle, I have located it entirely within the confines of the beater itself by moving the beaterdrum 23 at this end of the beater, a distance inward from the ends of the beater bars 24 equal to the depth of the cup-shaped casing 25. By so locating the transmission entirely within the contines of the beater,

either the width of the vehicle body may be increased, or the tread of the rear wheels diminished as compared with the dimensions of the machines which are now in use in which the beater driving mechanism is located entirely between the side boards and' the wheels.l

As it is necessary to interrupt the rotation in front of `the beater and is of the'same character as that illustrated in the Patent No. 821,779 issued to me May 29. 1906. .The

levers 32 are rotated through a small arc by the rods 33 and 33 when the gate is to be raised -or lowered.

To facilitate loadingv the body part, sections of the side boards 1 are cut away and supported by upright bars 34, the lower ends of which are hinged at 35 to the sills 1. Suitable catches 36 are mounted on the upper ends of the stationary parts of the side boards so as to engage the hinged sections and hold them securely in place when inr their closed ositi'on. In loading' the machine the catc ies 36 are slidupward and the hinged sides dropped, thus making 1t very much easier-to till the body part of the vehicle.

The movable bottom 12 is made'up of slat sections secured to chains which rotate v around forward sprocket wheels 37 and rear sprockets 38.' lThese sprockets are carried. by the transverse shafts 39 and 40, respec tively,4 which in turnare journaled at their ends in bearings secured to the sills 1.

In feeding material to the rapidly rotating beater,'the apron must necessarily be advanced rearward at a very slow speed. To

ratchet and gear mechanism. This transmission provides a compact, simple reduc- .tion in gearing between the rotating axle and the shaft carrying the apron.

A bell crank 41 is mounted on' the beater driving end of the transverse shaft 42 andis connected by means of a rod 43 to the dog I27, which starts or stops the beater driving mechanism. This transverse shaft 42 extends directly beneath the upper run of the movable apron and is mounted `in suitable bearings connected yto the side sills. The rod 33 connects one end of the bell crank 41 to the gate operating lever 32. A rod 4i extends from one end of the bell crank forward to an operating lever-15. By shitting this lever from one position to another, the

dog is turned into or out of engagement with'the stops on the beater transmission and the end gate is raised or lowered.

In this' machine I` have embodied the low down type of construction with the entire load suspended between the two axles upon continuous sills extending from beneath the -clined the front board of the load-carrying box so that a considerable portion extends beyond the front of the apron or movable bottgm. Tlieinclina'tion ot' the front board is "such thalttlie material will easily slide downward as the. apron draws away the lower layers. t

In the manufacture of a manure spreader embodying the low-down type'of construction considerable diiculty has been found in the proper mounting of the front wheclsso as to allow them to be angled oil permitting of short turns without unduly increasing the wheel base of-the vehicle. In some of the machines this difiiculty has been overcome by using a single front caster wheel which may be mounted well within the frame of the vehicle close to the front board. In other types the angle of turning has been considerably lessened'in order that the wheel base o't'- the vehicle may not be unduly lengthened. The disadvantage of the prior construction referred to is that the ground contact surface is greatly reduced which is a disadvantage in a vehicle'carrying heavy loads and the stability ofthe vehicle is likewise greatly lessened.

By the combination of an inclined front board and continuous parallel sills, I have made it possible to retain in a low-down type. of machine the advantages of a front truck which may be swung through an angle of 90 degrees permitting the vehicle to -tuin about on'e rear wheel as a pivot. and. at the vcrease, of thel apron. :length:

not interfere with the under-cut of the wheels and likewise not.' necessitate the vin- .I n a vehicle 'ofthis typein heavy vmass Iis tobe carried, ,the A`frame-.must be ofavery rigid construction; By employing the continuous sills "extending upward vfrom thefront, of the load carrying body to points above thefront wheels, it' is necessary. to makea bendl in thecontinuous sillsprv channels, this`l consequently weakeniugthe structure. To obviate this and provide a rigid frame, I used braces 6 which extend from the forward ends of the4 sills. rearward t0 points behind the bends in the sills. This materially strengthens the sill structure and likewise provides `a supportA for the frontA inclined load carrying board 10. y

To maintain the maximum strength of framework the'side sills l are carried up in substantially the same planes in which the rear parts lie. The front ends are strongly tied together by straight bracing which is so related to the truck that the latter can rotate completely within -the framework soprovided without striking any of the parts.

The side braces are so arranged as to 'give support to the front vehicle board at its strong forward inclination. When the load is piled, as is intended-in .usingthis con# struction, there is much weight exerted upon the board especially when the manure is of the heavy moist class. This strain is met by the brace shaped in the peculiar way shown. The braces and the boarditself are so placed as t-o economize space in relation to the wheels which, when turning, can cut under to an angle of 90 and not interfere with the parts of the body.

The parallel sills l. which support the body structure and the movable apron' instead of being in al horizontal plane parallel to the ground surface,v are slightly inclined from lpoints lbeneath the rear axle forward and upward as lthey approach the point 3 at which thev are bent upward at approximately 45. The movable apron being mounted on the sills is consequently inclined in such a manner that the tendency of the loaddue to the action of gravity will be to assist the apron driving mechanism rather than oppose it. This has been found to be a feature of very considerable importance in actual practice.

The material advantages incident to the meehanism'herein' shown resulted from theA experience met with in making and using` machines of the character shown in my earlier patent.'Re-issueNo. 13.318. I found it necessary to devise means for carrying a large load on a short wheel base: to provide a strong rigid sub-structure for the load.

carying part of the body; to so arrange the parallel, to a 'position perpendicular. to the parts there shouldhe Aljstrong.bracingv4 for the front p0rtionof'the load and further soV avvsingle' centrally arranged truck-wheel' at the'` front:` While' retainin l'the' relatively .fhi'gh ground Wheels to provi e'for the proper traction and the properspeed ofthe fbeater I succeededlin ositioni the two relatively low front -wliee s Cspac ,apart on thefront axle)- in ,relation to the' main sills, to the` forwardly inclined'load support and to the sup; Elemental braces, in suc way that the wheel ase could-be shortened,the front truck was relieved' of the torsions and strains incident `vwufi'eely'turnable to'such degree that the fi'ont'axle can be carried from a position transverse lines of the body, the latter having a wide supporting sub-.structure at the front end l The load can be piled forward so that when the first draft impulse is'exerted by the team, resistance from the rear wheels is reduced; but at .the same time the parts are so relativelyjdisposed that the weight is speedily transmitted to the rear wheels to increase their tractive efficiency as soon as the beater is to be putl in operation'and insure its proper rot-ation. As the bottompart -of .the load movesbackward the forward part slides down the front inclined board, and, gradually, a uniformly thick load 4stratum is formed on the apron.

What I` claim is: j

1. The. combination 'of therear axle, ,the front axle, the high rear ground wheels on the rrear axle, the two relatively low front wheels spacedapart on the front axle, the` main sills below and suspended from the rear axle and extending forward on lines substantially parallel with each other from end to end to points above the front axle, each having a lower elongated section and an upward'and forward inclined s'ectlon, a

load-carrying body supported on 'saidsills and having a forward and upward lnclined front end wall arranged to support a portion of the load in front of the front end of the apron, a rotary .distributer at therear end of the apron, the elongated cross bolster secured to the front ends of the said parallel sills, and the horizontally swinging carrier for the frontaxle supported by the said bol ster, the aforesaid'parts being arranged substantially as set forth to permit the axle Ato turn from a position perpendicular, to a position parallel. to the longitudinallines of the vehicle' without the front wheels inipingingupon the said sills.

' 2. The combination of the relatively long rear. axle. the relatively short front axle. the

relatively-high rear ground wheels carried thatv there .would be capability of turningv completely around ina shortf'space withoutl 1 'v being .drivento thevnecessitygof employing which a soggy, V

to a single centralv steering wheel and yet load supporting; and delivering apron, a

ros-

by the rear axle, the relatively lo'w front wheels on the front axle, the main sills'below and suspended from the rear axle and the ends of the main sills, the long cross bolster secured to said sills and braces, the Irotary carrier for the front axle positioned to permit it to turn from a position parallel, i to a position at right angles', tothe transverse lines of the body Without impinging on the said sills or braces, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I alii): my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

THEOPHILUS BROWN.

Witnesses:

FLOYD R. TODD, G. P. EXTROM. 

